America's obesity epidemic is so deeply rooted that it will take dramatic and systemic measures - from overhauling farm policies and zoning laws to, possibly, introducing a soda tax - to fix it, the influential Institute of Medicine said on Tuesday.

In an ambitious 478-page report, the IOM refutes the idea that obesity is largely the result of a lack of willpower on the part of individuals. Instead, it embraces policy proposals that have met with stiff resistance from the food industry and lawmakers, arguing that multiple strategies will be needed to make the U.S. environment less "obesogenic."

The IOM, part of the Washington-based National Academies, offers advice to the government and others on health issues. Its report was released at the Weight of the Nation conference, a three-day meeting hosted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cable channel HBO will air a documentary of the same name next week.

"People have heard the advice to eat less and move more for years, and during that time a large number of Americans have become obese," IOM committee member Shiriki Kumanyika of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine told Reuters. "That advice will never be out of date. But when you see the increase in obesity you ask, what changed? And the answer is, the environment. The average person cannot maintain a healthy weight in this obesity-promoting environment."

Shortly after the report was released, the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is funded by restaurant, food and other industries, condemned the IOM as joining forces with the nation's "food nannies."

Whoa....there it is folks. All the laws are going to be in place. Look at what they are talking about here!!!!

Glenn Beck wanted to know what the fascination about food is all about....well here it is in all its controlling freakish glory. Somebody get this to Glenn, because control of the food...control of your food...is around the corner.

I’d sooner see a perhaps 10% discount off of health insurance (and may Obamacare quickly die the death, thank you) for all who walk at least four miles a week. And leave their dadgum hands OFF of our food. Our groceries don’t look any more unhealthy than they did in a less pudgy yesteryear.

6
posted on 05/08/2012 11:58:19 AM PDT
by HiTech RedNeck
(Mitt! You're going to have to try harder than that to be "severely conservative" my friend.)

Humans evolved to do hard physical work, and suffer through periodic famines. It was necessary to pack on a few pounds, during times of plenty; in order to survive the inevitable famine.

In today's world, we have machines (largely powered by fossil fuels) to do most of the hard physical work. Modern agricultural technology, combined with modern transportation and food preservation, has largely eliminated famine.

The combined forces of socialists, environmentalists, and nanny-staters will solve the above problems.

9
posted on 05/08/2012 12:01:26 PM PDT
by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
(In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.)

“The average person cannot maintain a healthy weight in this obesity-promoting environment.”

The country will continue to fall into decline until we get to the place were we admit that far too often we use the words I CANNOT instead of the correct phrase which is I DO NOT WANT TO!

Just try it in the following statements and you see why we’re in the shape we’re in (pun intended!)

I CANNOT maintain a healthly weight...
I CANNOT live within my means....
I CANNOT stay faithful to my spouse....
I CANNOT save any money for retirement....
I CANNOT stop viewing pornography on the internet....
I CANNOT teach my children responsibility and discipline...

10
posted on 05/08/2012 12:01:29 PM PDT
by VikingMom
(I may not know what the future holds but I know who holds the future!)

This is creepy, very creepy....this takes over the farms and introduces a fat tax....

PS. I walk dogs professionally, about 2.5 total everyday, do I get free health insurance? LOL. Really though I have days where I need those fast carbs. to keep my energy up to keep up with exercising dogs! New tax on my clients!

11
posted on 05/08/2012 12:04:58 PM PDT
by EBH
(The redistribution of another man's money, does not create wealth for the "greater good.")

Ill Noise already taxes sodas as nonfoods are taxed. And. That hasn’t even touched the rate of soda consumption (and more illogically and unfairly, it doesn’t make a distinction between diet and sugary drinks).

13
posted on 05/08/2012 12:08:08 PM PDT
by HiTech RedNeck
(Mitt! You're going to have to try harder than that to be "severely conservative" my friend.)

IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!
IT IS NOT GOVERNMENT’S JOB!!!!

Experience has shown that when businesses offer consumers a full range of choices - and especially when the healthy option is the default - many customers will opt for salads over deep-fried everything.

Default option....do they mean only option?

18
posted on 05/08/2012 12:13:46 PM PDT
by EBH
(The redistribution of another man's money, does not create wealth for the "greater good.")

The obese are a problem, and the obese are a voting block. What to do? I’ve got it! We’ll just say it isn’t their fault and that there’s a “smartest-guy-in-the-room” government solution for making Jabba-the-Hut look like Matt Damon! Now the fatties won’t be mad, and we are looking like we are doing something. In fact, we can grab more power and money while we’re at it. Whee!

20
posted on 05/08/2012 12:14:41 PM PDT
by achilles2000
("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")

“I CANNOT maintain a healthly weight...
I CANNOT live within my means....
I CANNOT stay faithful to my spouse....
I CANNOT save any money for retirement....
I CANNOT stop viewing pornography on the internet....
I CANNOT teach my children responsibility and discipline...”

The obese are a problem, and the obese are a voting block. What to do? I’ve got it! We’ll just say it isn’t their fault and that there’s a “smartest-guy-in-the-room” government solution for making Jabba-the-Hut look like Matt Damon! Now the fatties won’t be mad, and we are looking like we are doing something. In fact, we can grab more power and money while we’re at it. Whee!

22
posted on 05/08/2012 12:16:31 PM PDT
by achilles2000
("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")

Shortly after the report was released, the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is funded by restaurant, food and other industries, condemned the IOM as joining forces with the nation's "food nannies."

However, the IoM is not some beknighted group working in white lab coats fro your benefit. Read here.

Some quotes:

In falsely reporting this study from the IoM, however, the old media reporters never bothered to even read the adverse reactions report. Nor did they ask a few simple questions such as "Who is funding the Institute of Medicine? And what is the agenda of the IoM?"

Today, NaturalNews publishes a stunning story about the IoM which reveals this government-created non-profit to be a key player in the military medical complex involving a shady network of weapons manufacturers, the Department of Homeland Security, top pharmaceutical companies and population control globalists such as Bill Gates. Here, we expose who's giving the IoM money and why the actual sources of funding behind the IoM destroy any credibility it once claimed to have on the subject of public health.

Even the Washington Legal Foundation (http://www.wlf.org), a group that advocates free choice in health care (and personal freedom in general), charged that the FDA could not legally accept recommendations from the Institute of Medicine because the committee members put forth by the IoM did not meet the lawful requirement of being "fairly balanced."

"Using advice from a committee that lacks fair balance encroaches upon Congress' mandate that each Advisory Committee should be representative of a broad range of viewpoints and should include affected individuals," said WLF Chief Counsel Richard Samp after filing WLF's Citizen Petition. (http://www.policymed.com/2011/07/institute-of-medicine-fda-510k-advis...)

Government subsidizes the corn growers. Boom! High fructose corn syrup in everything because it’s so cheap.

Government FDA puts out guidelines for diet that are High Carb, low fat (the same diet given to cattle before slaughter to fatten them up) Boom! Everyone gets fat.

Government listens to lobbyists from Weight Watchers, Slim Fast and others in the weight loss industry. Boom! Herbs that speed up the metabolism are taken off the market.

Government refuses to enact tort reform so doctors are scared to death to prescribe anything proven to help people lose weight because they might get sued out of existence. Boom! People become grossly obese and are turning to surgery to help.

So the government has to fix the problem they created. Nice.

29
posted on 05/08/2012 12:36:02 PM PDT
by netmilsmom
(Romney scares me. Obama is the freaking nightmare that is so bad you are afraid to go back to sleep)

If this was calculated on a measure of body fat rather than the stupid BMI, I might be more inclined to believe there is a problem. As for the heroin chic purveyors of that nonsense, I have never been less than "overweight" because of muscle and bone mass.

Now, I may have a little 'reserve' (most of which will be gone by summer's end), but can still lift over 100 lbs and walk away with it. Not bad for a great-grandpa.

Get between an old dog and his dinner dish, and you might get bit.

30
posted on 05/08/2012 12:37:14 PM PDT
by Smokin' Joe
(How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)

“Were all helpless worms in need of cradle to grave care, apparently.”

Absolutely! Since the public schools and universities have been pushing the psychobabble drek ....these are your emotions, they have control, there is nothing you can do about it, you are helpless, everything is going to be ok...

instead of

You, as a human have volition, the capacity to decide. Decisions have consequences, so gather as much information as you can, and make good ones. If you make bad ones it is your responsibility to make things right, no one else’s. You are not the content of your emotions, but the content of your character, and you are responsible for the content of your soul!

Government getting in people’s lives to get them quitting smoking just made them get fatter.

Now government wants to meddle into the problem they created - obesity increases - and start dictating changes again.

It is time to tell the govt to STFU and GTFO of micromanaging aspects of our lives they have NO RIGHT to be mucking in. Back to the fed govt of 1800. Seriously. Weak federal government. Strong state government.

Price-support programs for wheat, cotton and other commodity crops prohibit participating farmers from planting fruits and vegetables on land enrolled in those programs. Partly as a result, U.S. farms do not produce enough fresh produce for all Americans to eat the recommended amounts, and the IOM panel calls for removing that ban.

I am not a fan of farm subsidies, but this is deliberate mischaracterization. These do not prohibit farmers from growing anything, they merely make it more profitable to grow certain things. There is no "ban" to be removed.

The average person cannot maintain a healthy weight in this obesity-promoting environment.

That would be news to the 66% - I'm using the article's numbers - who manage it quite nicely at the present time. However, through the illimitable power of linear extrapolation that figure may dwindle to a mere 58% of the population by 2030, who may find some sort of niggling objection to a program that places the government in charge of a personal problem that does not exist. One is accustomed to those in need of a self-discipline to appeal for help to a higher Power but not to those in no need having the appeal made for them to the government, however godlike its constituent pressure groups feel themselves.

Didn't the feminazi's have a saying: "Keep your hands off my body."? Well, can "they" keep their hands off my food?

The FFA (Future Farmers of America) actively encourages the youth to aim to work for Monsanto - site visits, the works. Gotta love that.

Can we get GMO labelling laws -- seriously, it's just information and words added to a label, but we can't get that done. Instead, set up life control rules for the populace, eh?

I want the FREEDOM to say no to The Twinkie, or to say yes to The Twinkie. The Food Modernization and Safety Act, anyone? That's already been passed, by the way.

Yamamoto, if he would have thought about it for a few minutes more, could've added to his famous quote about Americans and their tools behind every blade of grass -- that Americans would trade those tools for food if they were left with only grass to eat. You don't think Ayers et al. have thought about this?

America's obesity epidemic is so deeply rooted that it will take dramatic and systemic measures - from overhauling farm policies and zoning laws to, possibly, introducing a soda tax - to fix it, the influential Institute of Medicine said on Tuesday.

We’ve heavily subsidized corn since the 70’s, which wouldn’t make money without government assistance. That corn is used to make corn fructose (a form of sugar), which is nearly in everything...SO YES, this has to be addressed.

To act like there is no problem and that it’s all personal chose is silly. But I’m not for extra taxes....I’m just against government funds pushing bad food.

43
posted on 05/08/2012 1:56:19 PM PDT
by Rick_Michael
( 'REAL' Conservatives who witch hunt their own, are no better than Obama.)

America's obesity epidemic is so deeply rooted that it will take dramatic and systemic measures - from overhauling farm policies and zoning laws to, possibly, introducing a soda tax - to fix it, the influential Institute of Medicine said on Tuesday.

If you think this whole effort is about 'obesity' (or 'global warming is about 'global warming') think again.

Saying this is 'unbelievable' just does not touch the insanity; the sickness for power over another; these people have. It is 'their life' and they cannot be happy (not that they EVER are) unless they can claim yours.

Liberalism is worse than a killer epidemic; and should be treated as one.

If Repubs started distinguishing themselves from these sicko policies; they could win any election; and in a heartbeat.

I don’t see your point. It really is no more complicated than ConservaTexan says. If you consume less calories than your body burns, your weight will go down - period. If you consume more calories than your body burns, your weight will go up. I laugh at all the people that come up with these elaborate schemes to mix this and that in some combination of fat grams, protein grams, carbs etc. I am not talking about health, just the caloric principles.

The intended shift, of course, is from personal responsibility to government control. I wonder if any liberals will experience a dim sense of uneasiness when Big Sister tells them what they can and can’t have for breakfast.

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